Two ways to make an offer's math clear your stubborn CAC: stack more perceived value into a discounted first order
(Value Stack), or raise the ticket size on the first order itself (High-AOV Bundle). Loaded with illustrative example
numbers so you can see the framework work — change anything below to model your own product.
Your Stubborn CAC
The paid-acquisition cost per customer that won't come down — whatever an offer needs to clear to be worth running.
$
Value Stack — Total Profit / Customer
$0.00
High-AOV Bundle — Avg. Profit / Customer
$0.00
What's a Value Stack offer?
Bundle several products or components into one purchase and sell the whole story — everything the customer is getting,
not just the single item they came for. Think AG1: one packet framed as ~75 vitamins, minerals, and whole-food
ingredients that would cost far more bought separately, sold as one offer. You take a real (often thin) margin hit on
that first order to make the bundle irresistible — the follow-up (subscriptions, repeat purchases, upsells) is where
the acquisition cost actually gets covered.
Step 1 — Build your value stack
Add 3–5 items that go into the initial purchase. "Individual value" is what each would sell for on
its own (MSRP or fair market price) — stacking them shows the customer far more value than what you're about to charge.
Item in the stack
Individual value
Total stack value
$0.00
Stack value
$0.00
→
Your price
$
→
Perceived discount
0% off
Step 2 — Price the initial order
Price (from Step 1) minus everything it costs you to fulfil that first order (product cost + shipping) = your initial-order profit.
$0.00
$
$
Initial order profit: $0.00
Step 3 — Model what happens after the first order
Add one row per follow-on behavior you'd expect (subscribing, repeat-buying, upsells...). "% of customers"
is the share of every customer who does that specific thing. "Profit if this happens" is the total profit
that behavior is worth over its lifetime (e.g. a subscriber's profit across all their repeat orders) — not just one order.
What happens
% of customers
Profit if this happens
Phase 2 profit contribution
Total — Phase 2 (follow-on) profit
0%
$0.00
Initial order profit (Step 2) $0.00 + Phase 2 follow-on profit (Step 3) $0.00
= total profit/customer $0.00
What's a High-AOV Bundle offer?
Instead of engineering a can't-say-no offer and monetizing on the back end, you make the first order itself big enough
to clear CAC outright. Package more units or a longer supply into a single higher-priced SKU — a bag becomes a case,
one unit becomes a multi-pack — so roughly the same margin percentage nets a lot more dollars, with no follow-up
purchase required to break even. Example: a single 8-count pack might net $12 profit, short of a $40 CAC — but a
36-count case at a similar margin can clear it in one order.
Raise the ticket: price a bundle/bucket per SKU
Add one row per bundle or bulk-pack SKU. COGS is everything it costs to produce and pack that SKU
(product + packaging + printing); Shipping is postage to the customer.
Total Cost = COGS + Shipping. Profit = Price − Total Cost. "Clears CAC?" compares that row's profit to your stubborn CAC above.